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Not the best album out there

Di Grine Kuzine translate to The Green Horn Cousin and are a Berlin based band who play a mixture of klezmer and Balkan music, as Jewish performers were expected to know regional pieces when they performed, it's an attempt to recreate something similar, on top of that Jewish musicians were largely banned from playing brass instruments until the end of the 19th century by which time there was already a fair mix of Balkan music and klezmer taking place.

This album tends to focus on the Balkan sides of things in particular Serbian and Bulgarian village music where as earlier albums were more klezmer influenced. It is good music but lacks a certain get up and go, whilst I'm a fan of both styles - I don't feel particularly attached to this band. Zabkowice Walc in particular is very jazzy but seems a bit slow and plods along too much like a sad sounding funeral (not that you get many cheerful ones!), there is a quality nice brass section throughout.

I feel that it could be speeded up, the female vocals are used a bit sparingly, I feel this is a shame because when used they are very enjoyable. A shining light amongst a tracklist of slightly depressing tracks is Gigetanji which has an almost reggae sound present somehow and amazing warbly vocals. Bavarski Cocek has a notoriously Italian sound and you could picture The Godfather's relatives dancing away to this piece.